Part  2: Run faster and jump higher: Cardiovascular Fitness

If you’re just joining us, Part 1 starts here.

People do cardiovascular exercise to lose weight and build endurance.  Weight is all about the amount of calories to eat versus the amount you burn during the day.  If you burn more than you eat, you’ll lose weight. There’s about 3500 calories in one pound.

The idea is that you work out for upwards of thirty minutes, and since you are  active it help burns calories.  Your body gets used to the increased heart rate and you’ll tire slower while being active, building endurance.

If you are focusing on endurance, it’s better to do sets of exercise that will push your anaerobic threshold.  For example,  Rowing 4-6 sets of 5 minutes, with 2-3 minutes rest in between, or doing ten minute sets.

For burning calories, its best to focus on ‘steady state’ cardio, by doing an exercise at a pace you can hold for 30-45 minutes.

Oh, and don’t forget to stretch the muscles you used afterward.  Some people like doing a warm up and then stretching too.  I’m not going to go over every stretch, but find a few geared toward the exercise you plan to do.  It’s probably no surprise that lower body stretches are important for cardio exercises.

I’ve tried a few cardio exercises: running, biking, elliptical, and rowing, as ways to build endurance and burn calories.  My favorite so far is rowing.  I’m not saying I don’t run around at the beach, or enjoy a good bike ride. But in my mind it’s the best cardio exercise if you’re an average person trying to lose weight and build endurance.  It’s a high intensity, low impact full body workout. I really don’t see a downside, except that many people won’t have access to a boat to go row in.  If you’re running around a track though, you may as well row on an ergometer.

Rowing may not be for everyone.  Elliptical machines are also good.  You really have to do a exercise you enjoy to be successful.  Find something you like, learn the correct technique, and put together a gym schedule.

The key thing with cardio is to keep yourself from getting bored.  If you always go to the gym for 30 minutes on the elliptical, then leave, that can get a little tedious.  Try different exercises, different intervals, or change the pace.  One day, pick an aggressive pace and see how long you can keep it up.  Your body recovers quickly after short bursts like that, so you can rest a bit and then do your usual pace for awhile afterwards.

You can even integrate this sprint/steady pace interval into your workout by doing HIIT workouts.  HIIT stands for High intensity interval training, and is more taxing, so people who’ve been doing cardio for a while may want to try it sometimes to challenge themselves.

Cardio takes time, and as with any workout, consistency is vital.

Part 1: Getting started and Goal Setting

Part  2: Run faster and jump higher: Cardiovascular Fitness – You are HERE

Part 3: 101 guide to carrying people:  Weight Lifting

Part 4: Staying Motivated

Part 1: Getting started and Goal Setting

It’s tough making the decision to start working out.  Anyone can continue living the life they do now, but you can step up and start making changes.  You’re already interested enough to be reading this post, and learning how to start is the first step.

I’m going to tell you my experiences, gives tips to help you get a schedule going, and also introduce types of exercise.

This post is built around my experience with working out, and is directed at doing intense, efficient, and effective workouts.   It details my approach to setting goals, cardio and weight lifting, as well as staying motivated.

How I started

In May 2009 I started working out regularly with Joe.  At the time I was 6’1″ and weighed ~146 pounds.  I’d had my tonsils out not too long before, and lost a bit of weight while recovering.  Our goal was to gain weight, and strength.  I wanted to hit 160 pounds before the end of summer.  We were concerned about our endurance, since it is very hard to build endurance and strength at the same time while gaining weight.  I hit my fall weight goal, and now about a year later I’m stronger, more fit and weigh 175 pounds.  Joe and I are still working out.

Go To The Gym

Going to the gym sounds easy, right?  It only takes an hour or so, and going 3 times a week makes a big difference.  Then why do so many people fail?  A lot of people tell all their friends they will start working out, get intense about it and then quit after only a few weeks.  Sound familiar?  Here’s some things I think are essential to understand and are often why people fail:

• Results don’t happen overnight.  People assume things will happen immediately when it takes time.  Stick with it.
• Get a friend to go with you who has similar goals.  Or meet someone new who has a similar routine. It’s harder to fail when someone else is depending on you.
• Go regularly, but understand that life will get in the way sometimes. If you miss one day, that’s ok, don’t hold yourself to a strict schedule. If you work out consistently 11 months out of the year, you’ve been successful.
• Figure out why you want to get in shape and internalize that goal.  Have specific long term goals in mind.  You don’t need to set a specific time limit.
• Start small and use incremental increases.  Set up a workout that you know you can do without too much trouble, then slowly make it more difficult each time you go.

Goals

Set measureable, attainable goals and continue to raise them.  If you’ve never bench pressed and your goal is to bench your body weight, that’s a tough goal.  Break it up into smaller pieces than you can focus on, like first bench pressing 100 pounds, then 135.  Each session you should have a goal for the day, for example, “Today I will bench press 100 pounds 25 times” so that you don’t get stagnant.

Make sure going to the gym is about what YOU want.  Pick an area of your life that will benefit by being in better shape.

Disclaimer

I’ve done a fair amount of research on how I can achieve my goals more effectively, and work out efficiently. My advice is generally slanted toward what I’ve found that works, and will work for most people, but may not be everyone’s approach to fitness.  I don’t claim to be a dietitian or personal trainer.

Stronglifts.com has a very good knowledge base for people looking to get stronger, gain weight, or lose body fat.  That’s all for today!

Part 1: Getting started and Goal Setting – You are HERE

Part  2: Run faster and jump higher: Cardiovascular Fitness

Part 3: 101 guide to carrying people:  Weight Lifting

Part 4: Staying Motivated